Self-locking buckle.



r I I I M. G. HT & C H. JARDINB.

' LOOKING BUCKLE.

APPLICATION rmm APB.1B,1910.

, 982,433. Patented Jan 24,1911.

Witnesses Inventors Attorneys UNITE sra rns OFFICE.

MOSES G. KNIGHT AND CHARLES H. JARDINE, OF LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA.

SELF-LOCKING BUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

App1ication filed April. 18, 1910. Serial No. 556,006.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Mosns Gr. Knmirr and Orr-mines H. Janmxn, citizens of the United States, residing at Lake Charles, in the parish of Calcasieu and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Self- Locking Buckle, of which the following is a specihcation.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved buckle, and the invention relates more particularly to a buckle designed for use either on a hitching strap or a harness strap although it is applicable to straps used for other purposes, the primary aim of the invention being to so construct the buckle that the strap which the same is to hold, may be quickly engaged with the buckle without the necessity of threading the strap end first through or between bars of the buckle.

The invent-ion aims further to so construct a buckle that it will automatically grip the strap firmly and hold the same at any adjustment, in which respect the buckle presents advantages over one including a strap piercing tongue.

In the accompanying drawings,-lligure 1 is a perspective View of a buckle constructed in accordance with the presentinvention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal longitudinal sectional View therethrough, the buckle being illustrated as employed in connection with a hitching strap, which strap is engaged about a hitching post shown in section in the said 'view. Fi 3. is a view similar to Fi 2 illustrating the buckle as used in connection with a harness or similar strap.

In the drawings, the buckle is illustrated as including in its structure, side plates one of which is indicated by the numeral 5 and the other by the numeral (3. Connecting these plates at one end is a bar 7 and at the opposite end a bar 8, off-set portions 9 of the plates being connected by a bar 10 positioned between the bars 7 and 8. The plate 5 is formed further with oft-set portions, indicated one by the numeral 10 and the other by the numeral 11 and projecting inwardly from the off-set portions of this plate are bars, the one upon the portion 10' being indicated by the numeral 12 and the one upon the portion 11 being indicated by the numeral 13. It will be observed that these bars 12 and 13 are supported only at one end'and that their other ends are en 3 tircly free and are spaced quite a distance from the plate (3.

g A leaf, indicated by the numeral 141- is pivoted, as at 15, between the plates 5 and 6 at a point between the bars 12 and 13 and also between the bars 7 and 10, and this leaf may be so swung upon its pivot as to cooperate or engage at its free edge with l the bar 12, it being intended that the strap end to be held shall be frictionally gripped between the said bar 12 and the said edge of the leaf. However, to prevent disei'igagement of the strap end from between these two links, by lateral displacement in a direction away from the plate 5, the said leaf 14: is formed at its free edge, at that end adjacent the plate 6, with a lug which is indicated by the numeral 16 and the said leaf is further formed at the said end with a cut-away portion 17 which, however, is located at the corner which is pivoted to the plate 6 and which cutting away of the said corner of the leaf results in a shoulder, which is indicated by the numeral 18, and which rides over the cut-away edge portion 19 of the plate (5 and at each limit of move ment of the said leaf upon its pivot abuts against the shoulders 20 which result from the cutting away of the said edge of the plate.

\Vhere the buckle is to be employed for the purpose of holding a hitching strap after the same has been engaged about a. hitching post, the strap is first passed over the bars 7 and 1.0 and between these bars and the pivoted edge of the leaf 14: the strap is then passed about the hitching post, which is indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings by the reference character H, after which the free end of the strap is engaged over the free end of the bar 12, over the free edge of the leaf 14:, and finally over the free end of the bar 13, and a pull is then exerted upon the said end of the strap to tighten the strap about the post. Any further or subsequent pull upon the strap will then of course be upon that portion which is inserted between the bars 7 and 10 and the pivoted edge of the leaf, and such pull will merely result in the leaf 14 frictionally binding the strap between its free edge and the bar 12. When the buckle is to be employed upon a harness strap, for securing the ends of a hame, or upon straps similarly arranged and used, the buckle has its bar 1O permanently secured to one end of the strap or one of the straps to be connected where there are two separate straps in con nection with which the buckle is used. The free end of the strap or the end of the other strap, if two are used, is then inserted beneath the bar 7 of the buckle, as illustrated in F ig. 3 of the drawings, and is en gaged over the free ends of the bars 12 and 13 and also over the free edge of the leaf 7 lat of the buckle.

lVhat is claimed is: 1. In a buckle, spaced plates, bars connecting the plates, bars projecting inwardly i from one of the plates and terminating short of the other plate, and a pivoted leaf arranged between the plates and to cooperate with one of the last mentioned bars, the other one of the last mentioned bars being located adjacent and parallel to one of the first mentioned bars.

2. In a buckle, spaced plates, barscon necting the plates, bars projecting inwardly from one of the plates and terminating short of the other plate, a pivoted leaf arranged between the plates and for coopera -tion at its free edge with one of the last mentioned bars, and a strap retaining lug MOSES G. KNIGHT. CHARLES H. JARDINE;

lVitnesses:

PERCY C. SMITH, A. Bnnns'mn. 

